New and experienced climbers over 50 # 25

No climbing, but saw literally a couple hundred miles of granite, sandstone, basalt and limestone crags as we rowed and ran rapids in Grand Canyon. Fine brown sand in everything. Amazing adventure with six friends.

Paul Piratus wrote:

Overheard in the university gym yesterday morning: "Who's Jimmy Buffett?"

I love a good buffett, especially indian or thai!

Brian I am not 100# sure what it means? my closer  reading glasses are +1.5 and my safety glasses that I use for work and  shooting with iron sights are +1 I have two 1858 Remington's but neither one has a good enough trigger for this kind of competition. I could have a trigger job and  use them but would have to load one shot at a time.  this is my Biathlon pistol that I also use for bullseye. .50cal. double set trigger.

This is a video of me and a friend, who is a lot younger than I but who is also quite new to climbing, climbing the same route (grade 16? My conversion chart does t go down that low. Maybe a 5.9?) in a side by side video.
I don’t want to sound conceited but experience shows (I’ve done the route many many times).

https://youtu.be/klfwT03OTrI?feature=shared

Got out to one of my favorite cliffs today. with all the rain we have had this year the vegetation is doing quite well.. 

 Led one of the climbs that I bolted ground up. i must have been climbing pretty darn well that day...   It was spicier than I remembered. 

jms wrote:

Hello!

I am 54, and in the past couple of months, I have noticed that my feet are becoming more problematic.   My big toes get sore after like 2 outdoor pitches, and overall I feel like my feet are weaker.   Is this an age thing? Do I need stiffer shoes?  Any advice is appreciated!
Jen 

Board lasted shoes are very helpful.  I still climb in La Sportiva Megas often.

Of all the routes I’ve put up in the past, lately I feel like I’m painting my masterpiece’s with the new stuff I’m working on. Still lovin’ the adventure, but If only I was strong enough to get it free. It’s a cruel world… I’m not done quite yet..

Hiking about a bit today and battling off the mosquitoes. Summer is almost gone.   

I had a good weekend up at an obscure southern Sierra crag called the Fish Creek Rock.

Those of you who know me know that in 2007, aged 54, my neurology went haywire. I started having grand mal seizures, and the docs used a bit of gamma radiation, precisely focused, to turn a malformation growing in my brain into scar tissue. About a year after that treatment I was doing well, and leading .10+/.11- at Josh. No big deal, but for an old guy with a lump of scar tissue in my head the size of a medium shrimp, I was pretty pleased. Then everything went to hell and I threw in the towel. 

Last December a bunch of things happened (TMI for this post), and the result has been steady improvement after a very rough transition. Now, for the first time in years, I have my balance back and a serious left hand deficit is improving fast. So, last Sunday I tied into a rope for the first time in years and TR'd a couple of 5.7/5.8 pitches. I had no idea what to expect, and set no expectations. To my surprise I felt 100% comfortable, no vertigo or balance problems, and none of the extreme discomfort with exposure that I've experienced during other aborted attempts in the past few years. I found myself able to move smoothly and with flow, but damn, I'm rusty.

But now I'm all excited, and can't wait 'till the next time out... I'm pretty confident that with some training, losing a little weight, and regular climbing, I'll be able to climb well enough to satisfy myself, something I'd given up on years ago.

My friend Valentino grabbed my camera and took some pictures... It was a beautiful, chilly, breezy day at 7,600 ft.

WOW! so happy for you!

Congrats. I'm not sure I'm even close to making that move but hope everything works out.

Wonderful news Kris!

Kris,

Take rusty ;)

Excellent news.

Well done Kris!

Kristian Solem wrote:

I had a good weekend up at an obscure southern Sierra crag called the Fish Creek Rock.

Those of you who know me know that in 2007, aged 54, my neurology went haywire. I started having grand mal seizures, and the docs used a bit of gamma radiation, precisely focused, to turn a malformation growing in my brain into scar tissue. About a year after that treatment I was doing well, and leading .10+/.11- at Josh. No big deal, but for an old guy with a lump of scar tissue in my head the size of a medium shrimp, I was pretty pleased. Then everything went to hell and I threw in the towel. 

Last December a bunch of things happened (TMI for this post), and the result has been steady improvement after a very rough transition. Now, for the first time in years, I have my balance back and a serious left hand deficit is improving fast. So, last Sunday I tied into a rope for the first time in years and TR'd a couple of 5.7/5.8 pitches. I had no idea what to expect, and set no expectations. To my surprise I felt 100% comfortable, no vertigo or balance problems, and none of the extreme discomfort with exposure that I've experienced during other aborted attempts in the past few years. I found myself able to move smoothly and with flow, but damn, I'm rusty.

But now I'm all excited, and can't wait 'till the next time out... I'm pretty confident that with some training, losing a little weight, and regular climbing, I'll be able to climb well enough to satisfy myself, something I'd given up on years ago.

My friend Valentino grabbed my camera and took some pictures... It was a beautiful, chilly, breezy day at 7,600 ft.

Great news, Kris, enjoy! I hafta say, though, climbs at that angle are just......awkward. Calf burning, back aching, awkward. Looks fun anyway, though! 

H.

This brings such a smile, Kris! You have endured a lot with such grace. And now here you are climbing! I’m just so happy for you.    

I had a visit with Rolf yesterday for a Thai massage.  It had been a couple of years, and I had forgotten how great this kind of massage could be.  It's the lazy-woman's way to stretch out and get limber.  I wish I would stretch daily (as Phylp does)... but until I get in the habit of doing so, Rolf gets it done.  She's intuitive, and tough.  I highly recommend a good deep tissue massage.  

I've been thinking still about Bob's Mission Impossible.  "All you have to do is sink a 10 foot basketball from a dead start."  I originally thought perhaps it could be pole-vaulted... but nooooo.  (And apparently this cartoon is of a javelin thrower?)  Even if it were a pole vaulter... the rock/ledge starting the route is too small for a running start.  Still, I wish I could get up there and see it for myself. 

Charles Cole on FA ... pic by Bob Gaines. 

More good news around here... La Copine has just reopened, with a great new menu.  I so enjoy this place. 

On the bad news side... I really truly believe any chance of connecting with Dave Houser is gone.  That ship has sailed.  I'm so happy he wrote to me several times, and happy he checked in.  But I think there comes a time when it's simply too late... and any hope of writing a chapter or an article on Dave is likely not going to happen.  He has been an inspiration for me, and for my climbing... he taught me how to look at a rock and see a beautiful line... launched me on that quest to understand who was here, and how they built so many of the routes.  Even, in a way, to grab some lost adolescence.  I've kept a very respectful distance, my door is always open, but he may not have interest.  

I don't know why it bothers me so much to lose history.  I came to Joshua Tree, wide-eyed and completely clueless.  Over the last 5 years I've gotten to know so much of the Park, and so many routes and hidden places.  But I'm still just constantly pointing at a rock and saying "what is that?" and "Who put up that route?"  I'm grateful for every story and piece of history shared here... and wish I could find a way to pass it on.  

I still have a handful of unclimbed Houser routes to do... hopefully this year I can get on those.  I believe at least one has no anchor, and no place for an anchor, so unless I suddenly become an expert lead climber that one may not happen.  (Grand Canyon Donkey Trail - FA Jan and Dave) Picture by Vernon Stiefil.

So... where do we stand on this?  A note from 2018 says bolted anchor is currently missing.  Is it ok for 'someone' to replace the anchor? 

Kris, that is such great news. 

On another note, nice to that picture Lori posted of Sarah leading GCDT.

Congratulations Kris!  Glad things are improving for you.  Who'd of thought you would climb again a couple years ago?

Great to see you back on the rock Kris!